Council tax rise proposed for Norfolk residents
- By Elaine Bird
- 06 January 2020
- North-West Norfolk
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Norfolk County Council has published its latest £427.7m net budget proposals, including a council tax rise of 3.99 per cent – 1.99 per cent for general Council Tax and two per cent under the Government’s adult social care precept.
Significant extra investment in adults’ and children’s services has also been proposed in the county council’s latest budget.
Councillor Andrew Jamieson, cabinet member for finance, said: “We’re proposing a series of prudent measures to balance the books next year – tackling what was originally predicted to be a £36m budget gap in 2020/21.
“That buys us time to encourage the new Government to resolve the long-term pressures facing us and other county councils.
“Although we’re putting significant extra investment into adult social care and children’s services, we’re effectively running to stand still, in the face of rising demand and costs.
“We welcome the Government’s commitment to tackle adult social care funding and we look forward to working with them on this and fair funding for councils.”
The Council is funding £65m of additional service pressures next year, with significant investment in adult’s and children’s services:
- £34.6m for adult social care, including £6.1m for demographic pressures, £7.6m for inflation and £7.9m for pay and price pressures
- £23.3m for children’s services, including £3.7m for inflation, £11m for budget pressures including children looked after, £4.5m for home to school transport and £7.1m for staffing pressures, including investment in the service’s new operating model and resolving the structural budget gap
In addition, the Council is:
- Investing £887,000 in the fire service, to support the proposals in the integrated risk management plan
- Supporting the environment policy, with a budget rising to £350,000 over two years.
- Following public consultation, the cabinet is to consider a total of £38.2m of savings and additional income for 2020-21, including savings agreed in previous budget rounds.
The council has budgeted to save £395m between 2011-12 and 2019-20. Over that time, its funding from the Government has reduced by £220m and cost pressures have risen by £440m.
The full Council will take the final decision on the proposals on 17 February.